Amazigh Activist Kamel Fekhar Enters 65th Day of Hunger Strike

Fears are mounting for the health of Amazigh militant and human rights activist Kamel Fekhar whose weight has dropped by a third since he started a hunger strike in jail 65 days ago.

He has lost a third of his weight since he began refusing food to protest the unfair imprisonment and inhumane treatment by the pan-Arab Algerian regime , Representative of the Movement for the Autonomy of Mzab Salah Abbouna says.

Kamel Eddine Fekhar started the hunger strike on January 3, 2017 in protest for his arbitrary detention— Along with a number of other M’zab activists— on ground of his denunciation of atrocities by the Algerian regime and the sidelining of Algerian security forces with Arabs during the inter-ethnic clashes that devastated the city of Ghardaïa between the Amazigh Mozabite community and Arab tribes over property and land ownership.

Ghardaia is situated in the M’zab valley, in the heart of the Sahara desert about 600 km south of Algiers, in 1982 the valley was made a UNESCO World Heritage Site in recognition of its great beauty and the cultural and historical significance.